How is Your Loan Modification Doing?
September 15, 2011 by
Filed under
Buying
If you’re like most, not well. it looks like Lenders are having second thoughts about the program.
Trial loan modifications are being canceled at an increasing rate
Lenders are canceling trial loan modifications at an alarming rate. In fact, the number continues to rise so much that Citigroup has canceled the program altogether.
Citigroup, along with B of A had also been offering principal reductions to try to help home owners in trouble, but that program also seems to be offered at a reduced rate as this housing problem continues to plague, not just the U.S., but the world. Stock markets around the world have been in dive mode – the DOW dropped below 10,000 again today. The reason most often cited is the housing problem here in the U.S. which is not only not improving, but seems to be getting worse. People are not buying – while banks are sitting on cash, and tightening lending guidelines at the same time. The rationale, of course, is the fear of more bad loans.
The government advises home owners who have either been denied a modification, or have had trial modifications canceled mid-stream to keep trying other alternatives before seeking either a short sale, or letting the property go to foreclosure.
The McCoy Case Analyzed – MERS Smackdown! | Q-Law Blog
There is a very interesting thing going on behind the foreclosure mess – MERS. MERS stands for Mortgage Electronic Registration System and was a system concocted to make it easy to transfer a mortgage from one company to another, without having to record it at the county. Problem is, the law in most states requires that it be recorded to be valid. Oops.
“…the powers accorded to MERS by the Lender [whose name appears in the Trust Deed] – with the Borrower’s consent – cannot exceed the powers of the beneficiary. The beneficiary’s right to require a non-judicial sale is limited by ORS 86.735. A non-judicial sale may take place only if any assignment by [the Lender whose name appears in the Trust Deed] has been recorded.”
[Frank R. Alley III, Chief Bankruptcy Judge, published opinion, Donald McCoy III v. BNC Mortgage, et al., Adversary No. 10-6224 -fra, Case No. 10-63814-fra-13, February 7, 2011]
Slapdown! In a relatively uncomplicated adversary proceeding in Oregon’s bankruptcy court, Judge Alley hit the nail squarely on the head: If lenders in Oregon want to foreclose people out of their homes, they must follow ORS 86.735(1). Or in the words of one Oregon title counsel, Judge Alley’s decision means that “…all assignments behind a MERS trust deed must be recorded for a non-judicial foreclosure. In McCoy, it appeared there were unrecorded assignments by the original lender identified in the promissory note. A “beneficiary” in Oregon is defined as the entity or person identified in the trust deed as the one for whose benefit the trust deed is given (or their successor in interest) – that was not MERS, but rather the original lender making the actual loan to the borrower.
For some reason, this relatively simple requirement has been routinely and flagrantly ignored in virtually every non-judicial foreclosure I have reviewed last year and this year. I suspect if I went back to 2008 and 2009, I would see the same thing. And this holding isn’t confined to situations in which MERS is the (nominal) beneficiary.
Read the rest of the story at The McCoy Case Analyzed – MERS Smackdown! | Q-Law Blog.
Trial loan modifications are being canceled at an increasing rate
March 2, 2011 by
Filed under
Buying
Trial loan modifications are being canceled at an increasing rate
* August 30th, 2010 6:40 pm PT
There are still far too many of these signs out there as numbers of home sales continue to drop
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/respres/2539334956/
Lenders are canceling trial loan modifications at an alarming rate. In fact, the number continues to rise so much that Citigroup has canceled the program altogether.
Citigroup, along with B of A had also been offering principal reductions to try to help home owners in trouble, but that program also seems to be offered at a reduced rate as this housing problem continues to plague, not just the U.S., but the world. Stock markets around the world have been in dive mode – the DOW dropped below 10,000 again today. The reason most often cited is the housing problem here in the U.S. which is not only not improving, but seems to be getting worse. People are not buying – while banks are sitting on cash, and tightening lending guidelines at the same time. The rationale, of course, is the fear of more bad loans.